homeschooling

hi!

does anyone else homeschool? what ages?

i am using easy peasy now with my 9 yr old daughter.

ive noticed she is advanced in many ways and a little slower in others.

i believe the whole point of homeschooling is so that children can be children not growing up being conditioned by the norm, and governmental agenda. to go at their own pace and find them true selves, with the guidance of their parents and families.


any thoughts or suggestions, frustrations, etc?

<3

Yup. Homeschooling mom here. My eldest got her GED last year.

My 17 year old is prepping for the GED for next year.
I also have a kid in 9th, 7th, 5th, 3rd, and 1st grade. (Plus a 3 year old that's learning his alphabet, etc, and an infant).

My 19 year old has been doing lessons with the 1st grader (I pay her to be my teacher's assistant) and husband is in charge of the 17 year old and 9th grader cause they tend to be...stubborn.

We have a mixture of curriculum. IEW for writing and grammar. Though I've also used Growing with Grammar and Abeka Language Arts.

Math has ranged from Abeka, to Khan Academy (free!), to what we're trying this year: Math U See

We're working on cursive, some geography, Spelling, Bible, etc

Struggle with History, Science, and PE. I really want to do an Oregon Trail project with the younger kids but it's taking forever to get all the details in order.

Most of my kids are quick learners but I do have one kiddo (5th grader) who has struggled with concepts. If she'd been in public school, it would not have been good for her and she would have fallen away behind. Homeschooling has been great for her to work, stress free, at her own pace.

There are times I get overwhelmed and I almost put a couple of them in a Waldorf PS this year but...God threw a bunch of things in my path that had me reconsider. One of the big things I have to remember is we are not a traditional school and we don't have to be perfect.

wow 7 children ! i have been considering enrolling her into online public (free) school. there is a program called , connections academy. it seems to be in terms of flexible schedule , lots of other interactions with other children (bcs she is the only child i find this important), teacher teaching and helping while i also am able to assist and guide her.

i am a bit paranoid because its the public school system but this program does seem genuinely different.
the fact that she is home with me is a huge factor in my choice to homeschool.

her and i are so close she often just fights me and has a hard time staying focused.

i think its amazing youve done it with 7 children !

you sound like an amazing mom/teacher to have.

We tried Connections Academy about 10ish years ago. My kids didn't really like how fast paced it was. I remember my eldest, at that time, wanted to concentrate more on the medieval Era but the online school had to get the kids through x amount of curriculum, so they blazed through.

I remember the science was very focused on evolution which, honestly, can start a good conversation with our kids about what non-Christians believe and why. But that was 10+ years ago, I can't imagine what sorts of things they might be adding to the curriculum now. Something to pray about, for sure. We tried it for 6 months and it ended up not being a good fit for us.

I've also struggled with stubborn kids. My 14 year old son 9th grade, now), in particular. When he was younger he'd get so mad about lessons he'd literally run out of the house and his older brother would have to chase him down for me. We used to get into yelling matches over his work cause he just didn't want to do it. He's gotten better, though he still complains about some subjects. Partly why his dad is now in charge of keeping him on task...I just can't handle the arguing.

Our state (Oregon) is pretty easy with the homeschooling requirements but I still can't stand them. I'd rather foster a love of learning in my kids than nag them to do xyz cause "you have to take a state test!"

If you haven't, yet, I'd suggest signing up with HSLDA. They not only help in case you have legal problems with your local schools or DHS/CPS but they host contests for kids, too.

I'd also suggest finding a local co-op to join. Then she can be around other kids once a week. I'm still trying to find one in my area. Been in them before and most of my kids loved having a day that was "different", where they could hang out with other kids.

So, I understand this 100%! Some hopefully helpful ideas:

Sometimes mixing up the lesson days helps. I believe its called a Block schedule. We do math, spelling, grammar, writing, Bible, etc on M/Tues/Thursday/Fridays and Wednesday we "break" and do science, history, and any fun projects the kids are interested in. Helps to have a day where we shift focus. It gets tedious for all of us, doing the same thing every day.

I'm also going to try the schedule that, I think is called Sabbath Week or Sabbath Schedule. So 6 weeks of school, 1 week of rest, then 6 weeks of school, 1 week of rest, etc.

Suggestions: when she starts fighting or losing focus, go for a walk or pause to make cookies or build a fort or play a board game, etc. Sometimes they need a brain break and then can come back "fresh". And if she's still struggling, it's okay to call it a day and throw on a documentary to watch, instead.

I've had times where...this sounds scary...we've skipped certain lessons for a month or so. I've been AMAZED at how much they learn on their own during those breaks and/or how quickly they're able to understand when we get back to it. So don't be afraid to back away from a subject for a time, if needed.

Another idea is to take what she likes and use that to keep her interest. When my eldest was younger, she loved horses. So I tried to cater to that by having her subjects involve horses.

My difficult runaway son LOVES Minecraft so when he was around 10 years old, he'd read about something in history and then I'd have him create, say, the Effiel Tower in creative mode in the game. He also was really into stop motion animation for awhile so instead of having him do multiplication worksheets, I had him animate multiplication problems. Example: In one, he had it rain and then flowers grew with the factors 2 and 5 and then a bee flew over with the product. He was pretty creative with it.

M 17 year old loves to act as teacher, to show me what he's learning in math. Math is NOT my forte and he is waaay beyond my math skills...but I've noticed when the kids try to teach me, the lesson really sticks in their mind and they really enjoy being "boss" for awhile. So when she's lacking focus, you can try playing the part of the student.

Sorry this was so long. A lot of this you probably already had figured out but just in case, thought I'd share. 🫣
Have you been homeschooling since the get-go or is this new for yall?

There are homeschool groups in many towns and cities if you want your child to have extra social interaction. They often are separated into Christian and secular. You'll also find homeschoolers in the more conservative evangelical churches like independent Baptists. There are some who allow outside participation in certain classes or activities too.

yes, i live very much in the country. she is in 2 clubs right now.

homeschooling since the beginning.
i am having a hard time keeping up due to disability more than anything.
i feel this online school with a classroom/flexible setting could really help us while still protecting her and assisting in her education.

please send a prayer my way for guidance on the subject?
to enroll her or keep up with easy peasy.

thank you!! <3

I know it's sometimes wishful thinking, but I would like to see parents put the effort that they put into homeschooling into the public school system. Sadly the more parents that move away from public schooling, the poorer the public school education becomes, and the easier it becomes to indoctrinate children into crazy social concepts.

I have three grandchildren who were home schooled through the tenth grade. They then dual enrolled in public high school and technical school. One of them took the GED at age 16 and then employment with a department store. She is 22 and now manages the department store clothing department. One now 28 is a high paid fuel systems safety expert. The youngest is now 19 and completed his welding internship with a major shipbuilder. I have two granddaughters (22 and 30) who attended public school and graduated. Both are stay at home moms of preschoolers. They plan to send their children to a local Christian School. They plan to attend college while their children are in school.

On note. So far, all of my school aged great grandchildren are attending a christian school. None of the parents plan to home school.

It's an excellent point. Christians should begin running for school board positions. This has happened in some places, with excellent results. But homeschooling is by far the superior education in a variety of ways.

i love being a homeschool mom. i started doing mock teaching at a young age with my siblings. i am 6 and 7 years older than them.
my sister and i especially loved it. she loved doing the homework id give her.

i really dont want my child caught up into the public school system but ive no idea how the difference is with public/online homeschool vs staying out of the public school system at all.

my daughter is brilliant just has a hard time staying focused on lessons for more than a few mins some days. id like to feel confident knowing she will learn all she needs for basics.

i thought she would never be interested in reading, it was concerning for me. God told me just be patient keep reading to her and following through with her lessons. suddenly my daughter is an amazing reader!

now im just working on the writing/spelling aspect with her.

she was skyrocketing in math but now slowing down. math is my absolute worse subject by far. so rather than enrolling her in a public school program im thinking just sign her up for this online math course with an active teacher and keep working on the rest ourselves.

maybe im stressing myself out about it too much and the idea of how homeschool should be a perfect normal day.
i think the point of homeschooling is , it isnt, that exact structure the world is giving us to live.

Well, the plus is you could try it for 6 months and if it's not a good fit, pull her back out and go back to homeschooling.

The pros for us was accountability and staying on track. Someone else being the teacher takes pressure off mom, so you're not the "bad guy" about completing xyz.
I also liked that THEY did all the grading.
The kids were always super excited when their teacher would call to check in. I still remember how impressed my son's teacher was that he knew all his multiplication tables off the top of his head. She said none of the other kids his age could do that yet. So that was encouraging.

Cons: I hated having to get permission for sick days. And we have a family tradition of No School on birthdays, so that was hard to "excuse" on attendance.
I didn't like the yearly state testing (though I think now it's optional?)
And then, I mentioned before, it was too fast paced for us.

But it could be worth trying for 6 months or a year. It's super easy to go back to homeschooling if you don't like it.

Have you heard of/tried Khan Academy for math? It's free and has videos with teachers explaining concepts.

Just a comment on yearly state testing. My DIL was totally against it, until she found that both of her home schooled children always tested in the top of their classes on all subjects. It was a confidence builder for her and her children.

i have now a couple times. thank you! sounds good.

I feel better after talking it out a bit here and praying and asking my Husband to pray.
I think we are doing better than I think at times. Worrying too much. Stress based choices are not good ones generally.

thanks everyone

Great that you’re doing this! As a former teacher who Received previously home schooled children into my class I think one of the most important things is to teach her to work independently and not ask for help with everything. Offer her 2 or 3 “helps” with an assignment; this will help her stop and reason out things which will also sharpen her problem solving skills. Hope that helps…

My wife is homeschooling ours for a few different reasons. One of them is just for that reason. Each person learns their own way and speed. Ours are learning math the fastest and reading writing the sloest

I have mixed feelings with homeschooling, but I'm so happy it's an option for families.

I'm an online teacher so I love that aspect of it, but it can be really tough being an expert in every field. That's why having multiple teachers is really helpful.

Also I would never pay for curriculum. There are so many out there. The good and the beautiful offers free online curriculum. https://ngscience.com/ is a free science curriculum. Wordwall community has free educational games. Dk books have the best visuals and use to have a website. Sci show youtube for science. Starfall for reading. Epic books for online library.

What's good about schools? Generally there are really good teachers. Typically they care about kids and devote a ton of time to them. Kids learn social skills from school. Yes I know there are extracurricular activities.... but kids learn social norms from school. Why does that kid smell that way? (Pot) why is that kid flipping out? Why is this kid picking on me? They may not like it, but it needs to be addressed when little verses a clueless adult. There's a difference between bullying and teaching your kid how to laugh it off so it doesn't continue. Sheltered kids can be very naive, which is not good in the world. They may think everyone thinks like them. They do not.

What's bad about them? There is this idea that schools are deliberately trying to dumb down our generation....hmm. I mean making kids wear masks when learning to read, closing schools, leftist books. I would say there is truth to this. I've moved kids up in reading 3 grade levels in 1 year. These were kids actually trying and working... there was no reason they should have been so low. State testing is obnoxious and you should see the flow charts they give to teachers to teach. I mean seriously no person could make sense of it. I think that was the final straw that led me to believe they were doing it on purpose.... making the standards way more confusing than they really are.

They also make History more confusing. Not only because they keep changing it but the dates. 2023 CE "common Era".....gag. Aside from the fact that it's so insulting to Christians and Jesus, it's extremely confusing for kids. They don't understand it pertains to a person's birth and death so the numbers make no sense to them.

Then we have Science.....sigh. I use to hate science in school and guess who we always watched? Bill Nye the Scientist! The leftist piece of garbage that made that obnoxious Netflix propaganda. He's the most arrogant a** and is himself a giant child. It's a shame bc real science is so fascinating.

So there you have it. What's good and bad about public school. I have a hard time personally trying to give my kid autonomy while also trying to avoid propaganda. Hence being indecisive about homeschooling.

Schooling where I am is very expensive if it is a private school. Public schools will give a basic education for the children. But I feel it is an essential part of a child's growth.

Homeschooling isn't bad. But your kid should get exposure to kids her age. You could sign her up for sports clubs, book reading clubs or music/dance clubs, etc so that your child can experience life with kids her age. It is definitely going to benefit her. Your kid should know the world if she is to one day live among people without going through social anxiety because of not being used to being in communities.

I don't have kids. If I have kids, I would not put them in expensive schools. I would give them what education I received and put them in a public school where the children can learn and I would teach them as well. Homeschooling is a good option. Education is absolutely important to children and it is their right.

However the parents can choose for them when they are young. But also listen to what your kid wants and consider that too.

God bless you